BMW Unveils Z4 GTE at Daytona

BMW's American racing team swaps out the M3 GT for a new racecar based on the Z4 GT3.

The BMW Z4 is a fine roadster, but if you've been thinking that what it really needs is a V8, just feast your eyes on this. What you're looking at is the new Z4 GTE, the racecar which BMW will be fielding in the American Le Mans Series this year to replace the M3 GT. Based on the European Z4 GT3, the American-spec GTE has been under development for months, but has just been revealed at Daytona International Speedway in Florida. With it, BMW hopes to rekindle the success it had with the M3 GT that dominated the GT class in 2011.

So what are we looking at here, exactly? A track-focused racecar, to be sure, packing a 4.4-liter V8 with four-valves cylinder heads, limited by regulations to 480 horsepower and mated to a six-speed sequential gearbox. The whole package weighs just 1,245 kilograms, and is fitted with a full roll cage, adjustable shocks, H&R coils, a dual-circuit brake system and 18-inch BBS forged alloys shod (for the first time) with Michelin racing slicks. More compact than the M3-based racer it replaces, the Z4 GTE will debut in the ALMS season opener at Sebring next month.